Cocktails
658 recipes found
Tom Yumtini
Bloody Mary
This humble Bloody Mary has its roots in a 2000 article by R. W. Apple Jr., who explored the origins of Worcestershire sauce, “perhaps best known as an indispensable ingredient" in the cocktail. Mr. Apple’s version doesn’t stray far from tradition, featuring the sauce prominently. Serve this version with a simple garnish of lime at your next brunch. (Betsey, Mr. Apple's wife, noted in the comments below that she always added horseradish and celery salt to those she served him at home. We think that's a grand idea.)
San Antonio Margarita
Josie Davidson is one of the great hostesses of South Texas and learned to make margaritas from her father, Chris Gill, who received the recipe in the 1970s from Mario Cantu, owner of Mario's, an old-line Mexican restaurant in San Antonio. She passed her knowledge along to The Times in 2015: Combine equal parts tequila, orange liqueur and fresh lime juice in a pitcher, using a measuring glass if you have one to get it to 26 ounces exactly (deploy a splash or so more than a cup per liquid if you don’t), then add 6 ounces of water to the mix and set it in the refrigerator to chill. Serve over ice in glasses with salted rims. She doesn’t use triple sec — she says it’s too cloying. Her father advocates Cointreau. For Davidson, only Paula’s Texas Orange liqueur will do.
Frozen Blackberry Margarita
Horseradish Pomegranate Margarita
Traditionalists will scoff, but this unusual riff on the classic margarita has plenty of bite and a touch of sweetness, making it a perfect accompaniment to rich Mexican food. You'll need to plan ahead for this cocktail as you have to soak the horseradish root in tequila for at least 24 hours, but the results are without compare. Store leftover tequila-horseradish mixture in the refrigerator.
Mexican Martini
Originally the Mexican Martini was just a large margarita in Austin, Tex. But the presentation calls for the margarita to be served in a martini glass, with olives on a spear. Because it is about twice as large as a regular drink, customers are usually given the cocktail shaker and invited to pour it themselves.
Watermelon Margarita
Mixing cocktails may seem intimidating, but it’s actually quite intuitive once you understand how to balance the alcohol, sweetness and acidity. In “3-Ingredient Cocktails” (Ten Speed Press, 2017), Robert Simonson presents the formula for a perfect margarita: 1½ ounces tequila, 1 ounce Cointreau and 3/4 ounce lime juice, shaken and served. Even easier to memorize, this version uses 6 ounces fresh watermelon juice — a sweet but subtle nod to summer — and 2 ounces each tequila, Cointreau and lime juice. Be sure to taste and add more watermelon juice if your margarita is too boozy, and extra lime juice or even a pinch of salt if it’s too sweet.
Dee's Margarita
Valkyrie House Old-Fashioned
Long Island Iced Tea
As white light is the combination of all wavelengths of color visible to the human eye, so too is Long Island iced tea the rainbow of high-proof liquors mixed into a balanced cocktail. When done right, it’s surprisingly bright and refreshing. A prism of vodka, gin, rum, tequila and triple sec, this batch variation — ideally served in a pitcher — is a cooling blitz of a drink, reminiscent of the best parts of a whiskey sour, or a hot summer’s day. Fresh lemon and lime juice bring sourness and bitterness, and a splash of cola and a bit of maple syrup round things out. Two competing origin stories explain the Long Island iced tea’s name: one in Prohibition-era Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee, where Charles Bishop is said to have created the drink with maple syrup in the 1920s; and the other in 1970s Long Island, New York, where the bartender Robert Butt mixed one up with triple sec at Oak Beach Inn.
Bourbon Brûlé
I mixed bourbon, ginger liqueur and sherry with a little fresh orange juice. And in a moment of inspiration, I gussied up the orange garnish by caramelizing the slices before placing them afloat in the drinks. I loved the way it looked and how it tasted. The sweet seared orange perfumes every sip.
Mulled Manhattan
This classic grape-and-grain mixture came to us from Christopher Tunnah, the general manager and beverage director at the Bedford Post in Bedford, N.Y. It's as jolly and red as a Santa suit, and it derives its Dickensian tang from the nutmeg hints in Angostura bitters and the clove-studded orange flavors of orange bitters. Craving seconds is easy.
Mint Julep
The mint julep is, as Chris McMillian of the Library Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton hotel calls it, “the very dream of drinks, the vision of sweet quaffings.” Thousands of juleps are poured at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby, but any time is right for a sweet sip of bourbon from a metal cup. Don't forget the bouquet of mint, which provides an essential aromatic pleasure as you sip.
Slow Clap
The bartender Ivy Mix’s inspiration for this drink began with an appreciation for Greenflash’s very hoppy West Coast IPA, and a wish to round out its character with softer flavors. A calming, floral chamomile syrup and the mild amaro Cardamaro serve that purpose, while the barrel-aged Spring 44 Old Tom Gin adds structure and a different edge to match that of the beer. The hops and tannins notwithstanding, this is a drink with an appealingly citrusy, floral personality.
The Boulevardier
A marvel of a cocktail with an enviably colorful peerage, the Boulevardier is effectively a cross between a Manhattan and a Negroni. In colder months, it’s a magnificent drink to have as a fallback when you want something richer and more complex than just a whiskey but can never seem to think of what else to order. It’s composed of two parts American whiskey, with one part each of sweet vermouth and Campari. Taken one way, it’s a Manhattan with a portion of Campari swapped in for the regular few drops of Angostura or other aromatic bitters. Seen the other way, it’s a Negroni with whiskey in place of the gin.
Nor’easter
Sean Josephs created this spicy-sweet cocktail of bourbon, maple syrup, ginger beer and lime juice to serve at his now-closed barbecue restaurants, Maysville and Char No. 4. It’s great on its own or alongside a pile of spicy barbecue pulled pork. If you prefer your drinks on the not-so-sweet side, add just a touch of maple syrup, taste, then add more as needed.
Jim Meehan's Singapore Sling
Manhattan
There are some who adhere to dry-martini dogma when making a manhattan, thinking the drink improves with less vermouth. But the classic, best and most flavorful ratio for this drink remains two to one. Whether you use bourbon or rye is entirely a matter of taste. Bourbon will get you a slightly sweeter, more mellow drink; rye a drier, spicier one. Both versions can be excellent. Use homemade cocktail cherries if possible, or a quality brand like Luxardo. Eschew the common neon-red orbs found in supermarkets. They are cherries the way that stuff movies theaters put on popcorn is butter.
Martini
The martini is the undisputed king of cocktails, nearly a category unto itself. The frosty, austere, all-alcohol icon has bewitched palates and imaginations for more than a century, to a measure no other drink can even approach. The trend toward drier martinis, with only trace amounts of vermouth, began after World War II. (In martini vernacular, “dry” means less vermouth, “wet” means more.) That style remains popular. But, thank goodness, in recent years crusading bartenders have brought proportions back close to historical, wetter dimensions. A martini isn’t a martini without the herbal tang of vermouth; a 3 to 1 ratio of gin to vermouth should satisfy both tastes, given that the vermouth is of good quality and fresh.
They Didn’t Burn Rome in a Day
Brunch Punch
Hearth restaurant serves this refreshing punch at their Sunday brunch, which they prepare with Finger Lakes Distilling Seneca Drums Gin from New York.
Tia Mia
Mezcal adds an element of smoky surprise to this riff on a mai tai.
The Pink Angel
Mezcal provides a slightly smoky note and an element of surprise to this cocktail created by Will Noland of Brooklyn’s Sidecar. He named it after what he considers ‘‘the greatest transvestite-biker-exploitation movie of all time,’’ not just its pretty color.
Bad Day at Work
High-quality gin, clementine orange juice and a generous splash of seltzer make this cocktail just the thing after a stressful day at the office.